Combined Affects of Project Priority and Efficiency Factors on Project Outcomes in a Group of Multiple Prpjects

This dissertation followed a Multiple Methods approach to explore the relationship between implementational project priority, application of project efficiency factors and project outcomes within the same Group of Multiple Projects (GrMP). The investigation was divided into two distinct components, each with its own independent research question. The first component of the thesis addressed the question: ‘What are the terms and definitions used to address the various structural and hierarchical levels of project arrangement within a portfolio?’ Utilizing industry surveys and a systematic literature review, the research resulted in identifying differentiations within the existing project management nomenclature. Additionally, the relevancy of project groupings under a single project manager in the larger project management domain is articulated. Furthermore, the dissertation recommends the use of the term ‘Group of Multiple Projects’ (adopted from Patanakul [2013]) to address the same. 

The second component of the dissertation builds upon the nomenclature recommendations from the first component and pursues the overarching research question, ‘What is the combined influence of implementational project priority and efficiency factors on project outcomes within the same Group of Multiple Projects (GrMP)?’ Structured interviews with open-ended and Likert scale type questions were utilized to collect data from ten projects managers with an average experience of over 15 years regarding 30 projects. The data was then analyzed using qualitative (pattern matching) methods. From the analysis the dissertation deduced that low priority projects maybe mostly cost driven and high priority projects maybe schedule driven. The findings also informed that the influence of efficiency factors may vary based on the priority of the project. Furthermore, this dissertation piloted quantitative methods of analysis. Primarily Binary Logistics Regression was adopted to analyze the data. It was selected as it assisted in the examination of the relationship between multiple quantitative explanatory variables on a dependent variable. Although the data points were too low for statistical relevance it was encouraging to observe that the findings aligned with the qualitative analysis. It is therefore expected that a statically relevant dataset will bolster and confirm the findings of this dissertation. 

Essentially the dissertation recommends that to ensure project success, organizations and projects managers need to be strategic about project prioritization because when combined with efficiency factors (ie. scope development, team chemistry, level of team characteristics, and owner’s clarity of goals), project prioritization can influence project outcomes (cost and schedule). 

In conclusion this dissertation makes two significant contributions and has 5 managerial and academic implications. The key contributions are 1) identification of project driving factors at different project priority levels within a GrMP and 2) identification of leading factors that influence project outcomes. The managerial and academic implications are 1) Identified a new project classification hierarchy and recommended terminology and definitions to provide consistency across project management disciplines, 2) identified that the influence of project delivery factors varied based on implementational project priority that was set by the project manager, 3) recognized potential generality of efficiency factors across multiple industries, 4) suggests that efficiency factors when compared to each other affected project outcomes with different intensity, and 5) outlined 10 propositions for future investigation.